I'll Protect You
by Classic Rock Fan
Summary: Troy is in the hospital! Why? Because he tried protecting Gabriella. Now the group has to figure out who shot who and what exactly happened. Please R&R. I love good reviews. So review like crazy please. I don't own anything in HSM except for John.


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A/N: This story may be confusing but, I wrote this on 9/11 and it might not make sense. Anyway, this story was just something that I wanted to write and it was fun. I decided to give Troy a little torture. Later on in the story you'll see more of the story come together. So I hope you enjoy. And please good comments only. If you have any thing bad to say e-amil me.

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Troy laid on the ground and breathed heavily. Gabriella saw the hole. "Troy. Troy, you'll be okay. You can't die on me. Come on.", she said grabbing his hand and sobbing. Troy closed his eyes letting tears fall. Troy looked at Gabriella. "Gabs, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean those things I said. I wanted to protect you. If I hadn't have gotten in front of you who knows what would have happened.", Troy said hoarsely. Gabriella let a single tear fall.

"Sharpay! Ryan! Please! Come out here!", Gabriella screamed into the house.

Sharpay and Ryan stepped outside. Sharpay gasped. There on the ground bleeding and breathing shallowly was the great Troy Bolton. "Ryan, go call for an ambulance.", Sharpay said. Ryan nodded and ran inside to grab the phone. "What happened Gabriella?", Sharpay asked. Gabriella sighed and sniffled. "Troy jumped through the window to my house because I was held at gun-point. Well, the gunman told him if he took one more step he would shoot me.", Gabriella said as Troy tried to sit up. Sharpay took out a bandage and wrapped it around Troy's chest.

"Ryan! Where's that ambulance?", Sharpay called inside.

Ryan came out and sat beside his twin sister. "Their on their way. And Troy's parents are coming over.", he said as he helped Sharpay hold Troy down trying to stop the bleeding.

"What happened next sweetie?", Sharpay asked.

"Well, Troy tried calming him down and taking steps towards me. He said that he was going to shoot me. Troy told him that if he wanted to kill me he'd have to go through him. Troy saw that he was cocking the gun and he jumped in front of me and took the bullet for me.", Gabriella said still letting tears fall.

"When is the ambulance getting here?", Sharpay asked a scared Ryan.

"In about 20 minutes.", Ryan said as he cleared his throat.

"We don't have that kind of time.", Sharpay said as she lifted Troy's head and cradled it.

"Calm down Shar. Come on I have an idea.", Gabriella said grabbing her phone and dialing her mom's cell phone number.

>> 

"Hello? Gabi what's wrong?", Her mom asked.

"Mom, Troy's hurt. And we need to get him to a hospital.", Gabriella said as her voice began to crack.

"What? What happened?", she asked.

"Well, I'll explain later. We've got the ambulance coming.", Gabriella said.

"I'll come pick you up when the ambulance gets there.", her mom said.

"Thanks mom.", Gabriella said and she hung up.

>>

A couple of minutes later the ambulance arrived. "Where is he?", a paramedic asked as Ryan let them into the back. Gabriella looked up at them and sighed. "What happened, ma'am?", he asked as he kneeled beside Gabriella and started checking Troy's vital signs. "Well, um, it's kind of complicated.", Gabriella said. The paramedic looked up at Gabriella and sighed. After a while the three waited.

"We're taking him in. His breathing is below normal and he has lost a lot of blood.", the paramedic said as he picked Troy up and laid him on a stretcher and wheeled him out. Gabriella sniffled and dialed her mom's phone again. "Mom?", Gabriella said. A long pause. "The ambulance just left and took Troy.", Gabriella said again. Another long pause. "Yeah. We need a ride to the hospital.", Gabriella said as she hung the phone up.

"My mom's on her way.", Gabriella said as she wiped her eyes.

"Where's my baby?", Sara Bolton asked running into the backyard and hugging Gabriella.

"They just took him away. And Mrs.Bolton, it doesn't look good.", Gabriella said.

Sara gulped and turned to Jack. Jack's smiling face went from green to white to gray. He gulped and fainted. "How could this happen? He's a good kid.", Sara asked sitting on the lawn chair her legs shaking. Gabriella sighed and heard the honk of a horn. "That's my mom. You can follow us to the hospital if you want.", Gabriella said as Sara sighed. Sara nodded and went over to Jack. "Jack. Get up.", Sara shook him.

>>

Gabriella stepped into the entrance and ran to the check-in desk. "I'm looking for Troy Bolton. Has he arrived yet?", Gabriella asked as she tried hard to hold back tears. The nurse shook her head and pointed to the seats. Gabriella walked over to the seats and sat. Sharpay and Ryan joined her. "How could this happen? H e was trying to protect me. That should be me in there and not him.", Gabriella said putting her head in her hands.

Sharpay rubbed Gabriella's back. "Sweetie, it's okay. Don't ever say that. I know how you feel.".

"How do you know? I almost lost my boyfriend and my best friend! How can you say that you know how I feel?", Gabriella asked hysterical.

"Because I lost my boyfriend 6 years ago.", Sharpay said as she sighed.

"What? In the September 11th attacks?", Gabriella asked.

Sharpay nodded and sighed. "He promised me that no matter what happens to always be faithful. He promised he would be back. He was on the plane with his family and he... he never came home again.", Sharpay said with Ryan hugging Gabriella and smiling at Sharpay. "Ryan has always been there for me and he's never brought it up on that day.", Sharpay said as Ryan sighed and hugged his twin sister.

>>

"Come on Troy. You have to be okay.", Sara said as she touched the hair on her son's head and looked over at Gabriella and smiled. Gabriella was sleeping by the window and Sara sighed. She kissed his forehead and turned and left. The machines beeped, beeped, beeped behind Troy. Gabriella slept on turned toward the window with the rain pouring down.

>>

Ryan walked into the room and looked to see that Gabriella was sitting at Troy's side and singing. Ryan smiled. Gabriella looked over at Ryan and smiled. "Hey Drama King!", Gabriella said as Ryan sat down beside her and sighed. Ryan stretched. "Hey yourself. How is he?", Ryan asked as he yawned. Gabriella shrugged. "I don't know yet. He hasn't woken up yet. It's my fault.", Gabriella said as Ryan put his hand on her shoulder.

"Like Sharpay said. It's not your fault. She blamed herself for the longest time for John's death.", Ryan said.

Gabriella sighed. "Your right. I can't blame myself forever.", Gabriella said as Troy started moving.

"Gabs, look!", Ryan said as he pointed to Troy.

"Gabs.", Troy said in a whisper.

Gabriella smiled and ran into the waiting room. "He's awake! He's awake!", she screamed and Sharpay smiled.

"Are you sure?", Sara asked as Gabriella smiled.

"Yeah. He said 'Gabs'.", she said.

>>

Sharpay sat by Troy's side. "Hey superstar. How ya feeling?", she asked. Troy just kept his eyes closed. She sighed. "I got some cookies for you.", she said.

"Chocolate chips?", Zeke asked from behind Sharpay. Sharpay looked behind her.

"What?", Sharpay asked.

"His favorite kind of cookies are Chocolate Chip.", Zeke said as he sat beside her.

"I don't get it. He's not up yet. Hey superstar, Zeke's here.", Sharpay said as she got up and Zeke sat down. She patted Zeke's shoulder and grabbed her purse and left. Zeke cleared his throat. "Troy. It's Zeke. Chad's here. He's in the waiting room. The team's losing without you.", Zeke said as he cleared his throat. Troy moved his hand and clutched the blanket. "Zeke.", Troy said trying to lift his hand up. His eyes fluttered open.

"Troy, your up.", Zeke said as he hugged him.

Troy sat up. "Where am I? How did I get here?", Troy asked as he looked around. Zeke cleared his throat. "Your in the hospital. You got shot.", Zeke said as he tried to keep Troy laying down so as not to disturb the machines. Troy rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. "Where's Chad? Can I see him?", Troy asked in a whisper. Zeke nodded and left. "Hey Zeke. Tell him that I can still kick his butt.", Troy said as he smiled.

"I bet you can.", Zeke said as Troy laughed.

>>

"Hey. There he is. Hey Troy.", Chad said as he walked into the room and smiled.

Troy sat the text book aside and smiled. "Hey Chad. Is the whole team out there?", Troy asked as he hugged his best friend. Chad nodded and sat down. "Why are you doing schoolwork? Your in the hospital you need to relax.", Chad said as he saw his friend smile. "I need to get my homework caught up. If I don't Miss Darbus will give me detention.", Troy said as Chad handed him a cup of water.

"You won't get in trouble. I told her about the accident and she said that you could take all the time you need.", Chad said as Troy picked the text-book up again.

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A/N: Whoa! Totally didn't expect that did ya? I know I left it off at the text-book getting picked up but, I had to end it somewhere. So give me a break please. LOL! I hope you enjoyed this story. There's plenty more coming up soon so keep an eye out for it.

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